EMPIRE 63 



population of coloured workers and presents no such 

 openings for the introduction of white settlers as do the 

 other Dominions.) 



Had Canada, Australia and New Zealand adjoined 

 the United Kingdom as Siberia abuts upon Russia, 

 and as the west of the United States links up with the 

 east, the exchanges of food and manufactured goods 

 would have flowed naturally between these parts of 

 the Empire and the Home Country, and our wages would 

 have been the equal of those of America, Canada, 

 Australia and New Zealand. But the Dominions are 

 not continuations of the British Islands : their frontiers 

 begin thousands of miles from the point where those 

 of Great Britain end. 



Formerly territories so widely separated could not 

 have been constituted as a single productive area but 

 must form distinct economic entities. Nowadays, 

 however, distance is no obstacle, and it would be 

 practicable to constitute the Mother Country and 

 the Dominions one country. The latter through the 

 revolution in the circumstances brought about by 

 the application of science to transportation are for the 

 purpose of the interchange of goods no further from 

 the United Kingdom than some of the land contained 

 within its own borders. Countries when the space 

 which separates them is covered with water may be 

 economically nearer to each other than if they had 

 been joined by land. The following table indicates the 

 cheapness of sea transport. 



The ordinary expense of carrying goods (in 18S4) in 

 all countries was estimated thus : 



Shillings per Ton per 

 1000 Miles. 

 I ton by hic;hroad ..... 300 



,, by railway ..... loo 



,, by canal ...... 20 



,, by sea . . . . . . 5 ^ 



' Mulhall, 4th edition, p, 301. 



